Walmart

This Wally’s really isn’t much but it’s all we have since Zellers & Sears have left the mall. You can buy wiper blades or refrigerated dog food but jewelry, cologne or boxed chocolates? Nope. Not the store to seek out gifts for anyone. Oddly there are always shelves empty here & for days at a time. I’ve worked in retail most of my life so maybe I’m being overly critical. I just know that if Eatons, Shoppers Drug Mart or BiWay ever had stores this messy, under stocked & empty of floor staff, they’d shut us down.

Walmart finally found a way to enter Toronto’s east end, by taking over the anchor spot vacated by the defunct Canadian chain Zellers in Ghetto Square. (Oh may you be missed.) It’s a basic small Walmart with a pharmacy, but no full grocery so don’t expect any Superstoreness here.
The aisles are generally messy and disorienting. I’m never a fan of the uniquely Walmart shopping experience anyhow. But a particular experience of their electronics department worth writing about was off-​putting.
All I wanted was a set of earphones and a pack of blank DVDs. Simple, yes? But the department had this policy, I was informed by the cashier, that they have to photocopy my receipt, so they have a copy. Like, really?
This ridiculous process took five minutes, because they ran out of paper in the consumer-​grade printer-​copier like the kind you’d find in a home office they use under the counter for this purpose. Ugh. I never asked why. Why one of the world’s largest companies is making this poor underpaid worker make a copy of a sales receipt is something I’m still wondering about. At least he wasn’t a dick about it – he kept a friendly posture and also felt this extra step he is forced to make us all endure is stupid.
Walmart is fine if all you want is to get some cheap essentials like soaps and underwear and then GTFO before the zombie hoards strike. But I wouldn’t come here to buy a TV or video games, never mind more blank DVDs and cables, if this is how my and the employee’s time is valued. Damn, I’d rather have a salesman attempt to sell me on extended warranty, than have five minutes wasted on photocopying a receipt, an archaic practice that today’s point-​of-​sales technology have solved a long time ago. Get with the bloody program.

For a Walmart close to the downtown core, this ain’t too shabby. A good stop for basic home stuff, but you can find better quality and cheaper clothing basics elsewhere.
When you compare it to the massive ones in the suburbs, it definitely lacks selection but on a good note, it’s not as messy. I usually get pretty frustrated at a typical suburbia Walmart, but this one was pretty easy shopping experience.

Closer to home. It is lacking in some areas. The staff are nice.

Well they certainly slapped this store together in a hurry. No doubt Walmart wanted to get this store up and running before Target opens their store at Shoppers World Danforth next Thursday.
When I sopped in here last week there were still unpainted pillars showing hints of «Zellers red» and patches on the walls from the previously existing lighting that Zellers had on the walls. Stock seemed a little sparse in some areas. The store didn’t really have a Walmart feel to it. It felt like a no-man’s zone. Not Zellers anymore, but not quite a Walmart yet even if the signs on the outside say so.
The store is quite a bit smaller than your average, non-​Supercenter Walmart. I can see now why Target gave the location a pass. This is a very spartan store. There’s a pharmacy, but that’s about the only added service here.